Disney Web exec on kiddie porn charge

Federal agents swoop on paedophile in undercover sting

Less than 24 hours after Disney's three little pigs launched a Mickey Mouse initiative to protect children from online pervs, the FBI arrested a senior Infoseek executive for trying to solicit sex with a 13-year-old girl. Thirty four year-old Patrick Naughton, a top executive at Infoseek and the man in charge of Disney's Web sites, has already been sacked from his job. The Feds began investigating Naughton six months ago when one of its officers stumbled across the executive in a perv chat room. Despite the undercover agent repeatedly identifying himself as a "13-year-old girl" Naughton continued to engage the "girl" in lurid conversation. At one point Naughton asked the "girl" to strip naked for him before sending her to a site bearing a picture of male genitalia which he said were his own. Naughton's paedophile activities finally came to an end when he arranged to meet the girl. He was apprehended by law enforcement officers in Los Angeles who also discovered numerous kiddie porn pictures on Naughton's laptop. The incident will come as acute embarrassment to Disney which only last week launched an initiative in Europe warning youngsters about steering clear of strangers on the Net. In a reworking of the popular fairy tale, the three little pigs warn kids of the dangers of the "big bad wolves" that stalk the Net. The initiative is part of a Disney education programme designed to help to stamp out kiddie porn on the Net. If convicted Naughton could be jailed for up to 15 years. Naughton was named executive VP responsible for content and technology for Go Networks in January, a JV between Disney and Infoseek. ®